ROWAN COUNTY — Dan Nicholas Park became a huge classroom for more than 200 students as they participated in the 2024 Southern Piedmont Envirothon, a natural resource education program.

Middle and high school teams, consisting of three to five students, gathered at the park to compete in the interactive, outdoor event, held March 19 for middle schoolers and March 20 for high schoolers.

Students from a 12-county area make up the Area 8 Soil and Water Conservation District competing in this local event, which in addition to Rowan County, includes Anson, Cabarrus, Cleveland, Davidson, Davie, Gaston, Iredell, Lincoln, Mecklenburg, Stanly and Union counties.

This year, 33 middle school teams and 34 high school teams competed, “the most teams we have ever had,” said Kelli Isenhour, education coordinator of the Rowan County Soil and Water Conservation District.

Of those teams, Rowan County had four in the competition this year, she said, including two high school teams, one from Salisbury Academy Upper School and one from the Outdoor Environmental Club, which is made up of students from across the county who are either home-schooled or the school they attend doesn’t have a team.

There were likewise two local middle school teams, one from Corriher-Lipe Middle School and the second, also from the Outdoor Environmental Club.

The students and their advisors were provided with instructions for the day and sent out in groups to rotate among the sites where students heard from professionals conducting the review sessions. These included Zack Russell, soil conservation technician; Allison Medford, wildlife biologist; Nicholas Hoffman, forest supervisor Mountain Island Educational State Forest and Adam Walker, education ranger; Morgan Long, education director with the Catawba Riverkeeper; and Anna Edwards, education coordinator for Iredell Soil and Water Conservation District.

Throughout the day, some of the things students experienced included watching demonstrations dealing with soil and determining porosity, seeing equipment used for soil testing and more. 

At the wildlife station, they saw multiple pelts and skulls and were challenged to think through how to identify them as well as answer many questions about wildlife native to the area. As the time ended, they were given a prey-predator quiz as Medford held up various animal skulls for the students to tell which was which.

Learning about trees, their parts and cycles as well as the environmental and economic impact of trees, threats to forests and more were reviewed at the forestry site.

While visiting the aquatic station, students were able to see up close some real life examples of aquatic macroinvertebrates as the Long reviewed questions such as why they are important for the ecosystem, the various categories and how to identify them and demonstrated how they collect samples.

At the current environmental issues station, students were given a box and sent out on a scavenger-type hunt throughout the park. They had clues to search for questions that the teams worked on together to find the answers. 

Jacob Parker, one of the members of the Rowan County Outdoor Environmental Club’s middle school team, said most of their group had attended previously, and this was his third time to participate.

Three students, team captain Addison Beckham, a freshman and juniors Sara Lescoe and August Hoffman, 

from the Salisbury Academy Upper School participated for the first time this year, said Meredith Williams, their school based advisor, the Upper School Head and environmental science and biology teacher.

When asked if they enjoyed the day, another Outdoor Environmental Club middle school member John Tucker said, “yes, definitely.”

Caleb Parker, a fellow member of the middle school Rebel Raccoons, said he would encourage others to be a part of the day because “it is fun and you learn new things” to which Tucker added, “and you have new job opportunities.”

The high school students, who had the team name, The Green Girls, thoroughly enjoyed the event, said Williams, “and they look forward to participating in future years as they’ve learned how the process works.”

The authenticity made it a very exciting time for the students, she said, telling that one thing that made it “so engaging for them was how hands-on it was, getting to look at real specimens, real dirt, real environmental issues and current events.”

Not only did the middle school team enjoy the day, but so did their advisor Allison Hamrick, who said she “enjoyed watching the kids’ excitement and learning, and I’ve also learned things along with them.”

Williams expressed gratitude for all of the volunteers that worked to make the event happen, which, she said, “allowed our students to see people that were doing this work in the real world and helped them see opportunities for themselves in environmental science. It was such a phenomenal opportunity for our students. We can teach these things in the classroom, but they really made it come to life.”

She also expressed her gratitude to Isenhour for meeting with the team at locations where they could see trees or take water samples and learn how to apply various techniques.

“She was a phenomenal resource for our students,” she said.

Following lunch, all of the students reported to the stations where they were tested on aquatics, forestry, wildlife, soils and land use and current environmental issues with the top seven teams from this area competition, along with the top Future Farmers of America (FFA) team, advancing to the NC Envirothon in April.

The top team winning at the state level goes on to represent the state in the North American/international contest, explained Isenhour.

No Rowan County teams advanced in either age group.

The top seven middle school teams to advance are first, Davidson County Homeschool; second, Gaston County, Stanley Middle School; third, Union County Homeschool; fourth and fifth, additional teams from Gaston County, Stanley Middle School; sixth, Gaston County Homeschool; and seventh, another Union County Homeschool team.

The top Future Farmers of America (FFA) team to advance is Davidson County Homeschool.

In the high school age category, the seven teams that will advance are first and second, Union County Homeschool teams; third, Davidson County Homeschool; fourth, Iredell County, South Iredell High School; fifth, Gaston County, Gaston Highland School of Technology; sixth, Cabarrus County, Cannon School; and seventh, Mecklenburg County, Ardrey Kell High School.

The top FFA team to advance is Davidson County, Oak Grove High School.

As noted on the Southern Piedmont Envirothon website, one of the goals of the event is to promote a desire to learn more about the environment and natural resources, which took place as shared by the students.

“I think the event went very well,” said Isenhour. “We had great presenters who shared their experiences as natural resource professionals and some of the materials the students were tested on. It was great to see so many students.”

If other students are interested in participating or if teachers are interested in starting a team, call Isenhour at 704-216-8998 or email her at Kelli.Isenhour@rowancountync.gov as she said, “I’d love to help them get involved.”